What’s Canada Buying? December 20, 2012

F-35 Tug o’ War LockMart & the U.S. gov’t: everything’s just fiiiiiiiiiine ….“Canada’s announcement earlier this month that it was considering aircraft other than the F-35 for renewing its fleet seems to have prompted a string of reassuring moves by the U.S. Within days the Pentagon said it would sign a contract with Lockheed Martin for a fifth batch of 32 jets worth $3.8 billion. That move could also have been spurred along when Australia followed the Canadian news with plans to buy 24 Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets if it saw any more delays in the F-35 program. On the heels of the new contract came word Monday that pilots would begin training to fly the F-35 at Eglin, AFB starting January 2013. And that news came just before Leon Panetta himself announced Tuesday night that the freshly trained pilots can plan on duty stations at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, which will be the first F-35 overseas base in the world ….”